The track at La Conca has a new resin coating covering the old asphalt, a beautiful deep black. Treatment was also applied practically by hand last Thursday to further improve the grip. Following this change, the drivers would have noticed a gain of 0.5” per lap.
The Kartcom Quick Reference Archive shows some interesting comparisons. During the WSK Euro Series, pole in KZ1 was taken by Rick Dreezen (Tony Kart / Vortex) with 45”642. Paolo De Conto (Energy / TM) had driven a 47”622 at the Master Series in March, Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart / Vortex) was at 47”376 in the Nations Cup in 2010. The difference is therefore between 1.5 and 2 seconds a lap.
In KF1, the pole time for Nyck De Vries (Zanardi / Parilla) was 46”152 which can be compared with the fastest lap he set in 2010, 46”565, but it was then Super KF, and Marco Ardigo (Tony Kart / Vortex) set a 46”285 for the World Championship in 2008, but the machines were more powerful than today.
Franscico Abreu (Tony Kart / Vortex) is the pole sitter in KF2 with a time of 46”726. Andrea Dale (CRG / Maxter) had set his best performance at the 2008 World Cup with 47”578, Ignazio D’Agosto (Tony Kart / Vortex) was the fastest in 2010 with 47”146, while Pavel Rudakov (Tony Kart / BMB) set a 48”615 lap earlier this year for the Master Series. Again, we can estimate the difference at between 4 and 8 / 10.
Finally, in KF3 the gap is most significant. The pole from Dorian Boccolacci (Birel / BMB) in 47”317 is about 2 seconds ahead of the best previous laps! 49”324 for Max Verstappen (CRG / Maxter) at the Masters, in 2010 it was 49”416, and 48”897 for De Vries in 2008. While the temperature and the tyres are different, the equipment has probably changed, but the track at Muro Leccese has nevertheless changed!
Info Kartcom with Kartlink / © Photos KSP